1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to financial transaction systems, and in particular to a system for enrolling individuals or businesses in an automated electronic funds transfer program or plan.
2. Background of the Invention
It is often desirable to have a have automated payments made to various entities on behalf of an individual or organization. For example, employees who receive periodic payroll payments, can not only request that these payments be electronically transferred to a particular bank account, but some employees also may have the ability to route predetermined portions of their payroll payments to different accounts or retirement investments. To effect any such automated payment routing, it is typical that the employee must fill out cumbersome paper work and authorizations so that the employer can properly and legally effect the desired payment routing.
It is also quite cumbersome to arrange for a one-time or periodic payment to non-profit organizations that have solicited donations and underwriting. To effect such donations or underwriting a donor must typically write a check either one time or on a periodic basis. More sophisticated non-profit organizations might also run an accounting department that sends out reminder letters or “bills” to donors. As can be readily appreciated, both donors and non-profit organizations are burdened by tremendous amounts of paperwork associated with collections donations.
Furthermore, as a direct consequence of the explosive growth in electronic commerce, it is increasingly desirable, and sometimes even necessary, to transfer “electronic funds” through networked computers that are linked as part of a private network and/or, increasingly as part of the Global Information Network (GIN) or Internet. However, many customers find it cumbersome to repeatedly provide account information such as account numbers and the like, which is information that is typically required to initiate electronic funds transfer processes. At present, the inconvenience and inability to directly capture, qualify, and securely store customer data is an obstacle to the use and expansion of an organization's (including non-profit organizations), a corporation's or emarketplace's migration to electronic payment usage.
Automated, electronic payments offer several advantages including: cost, predictability, accuracy, convenience to a user and control over timing. Expanded use of automated electronic payments has been impeded, however, by the usually cumbersome process of obtaining necessary information from the customer, including transaction routing information. Thus, there is a need for effective methods of facilitating increased use of automated electronic payments to both facilitate the migration to ecommerce as well as to make conventional commerce (including repetitive or one-time bill payments, donations, and the like) more efficient. The present invention is designed for that purpose.
As noted above, it is presently cumbersome to, for example, effect electronic payment routing and to manage or keep track of donations. The advent of the Internet, however, has led to some improvements in electronic payments. The most common approach of, for example, e-commerce sites is to collect customer information at the time of each transaction or store customer information on a site-by-site basis. Both approaches, however, can inhibit the customer from executing the transaction. A customer may be unwilling to reveal financial information if he or she lacks confidence in the site operator, as may happen when a new vendor is not well known to the customer. In addition, it is tedious and inconvenient for a customer to enter the same information repeatedly in different sites, thereby causing resistance to using new vendors or vendors that require input of financial information for every transaction. There is also a need for an improved system and method for converting non-e-commerce payment-centric initiatives from paper-based, manual methods to an electronic system approach. Simplification of the automated electronic payment process as embodied in the present invention eliminates or minimizes these impediments to electronic payments.